Today is our CI workshop with Carl Rudman from Portland, ME. I’m very excited to get the chance to practice Contact in Bangor. Usually it involves traveling and is at least a day long commitment. But today, Contact comes here! It’s a wonderful dance form-improvisation, flying, practicing being in the moment, and inhabiting the body.
This is a pretty cool video-maybe we’ll get a group doing Parkour/Contact on the streets of Bangor.
It’s odd to watch CI if you’ve never done it…in some ways it’s like seeing a Jackson Pollack painting-you might think, well I could splash some paint on a canvas…no problem! But it’s learning the technique, learning to trust a dance partner, and being open to whatever happens that really makes things fun. In October, we (co-organizer Connie and I) hope to have another jam/class but with improvisational music for the 2nd half.
Fee: $20 if pre-registered by 9/21/11 online at: http://www.centralstreetyoga.com/workshops.html or $25 (check or cash) at the door
Description of class:
Wondering what a mixture of Aikido, surfing, wrestling, meditating and dancing could look and feel like? Then come join us and learn this amazing movement/dance partnering form called contact improvisation! It is a dance that fine tunes your senses and wakes up your ability to listen and respond to what is happening in the moment. Contact improvisations are spontaneous physical dialogues that range from stillness to highly energetic exchanges.
In this beginner’s class, we will be exploring:
basic weight sharing techniques,
incorporating sensory work, and
developing an improvisatory mind and body.
Workshop led by Carl Rudman, assisted by Connie McVey & Leslie Forstadt
Video of contact improv: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl514iZpN2E&feature=related
Carl Rudman is a free-lance performer and dance educator based in Portland, Maine. He began dancing many years ago at the University of Maine at Farmington with Margaret Gould Wescott, who became a long time mentor and friend. Subsequently, he studied with a number of internationally known teachers and performers, including David Beadle, K.J. Holmes, Martin Keogh, Liz Lerman, Nancy Stark Smith, Steve Paxton, Claire Porter, and Susan Schell among others. Carl performed, choreographed, and collaborated with the UMF Dancers for 11 years, and later danced for several years with Katenia Keller’s Flying Feet Dance Theater. He has served as Vice-President-Dance for the Maine Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (MAHPERD) and has taught dance for the Bates College ArtSmart program, the Foothills Arts Center, the New England College Dance Festival, and at theUniversity of Maine at Farmington. Most recently, Carl has been appearing on stage regularly in Southern Maine and has been on the faculty at New Dance Studio in Portland. He annually serves as an artist in residence for various Maine schools, and also offers self-produced classes, workshops, and dance jams around the state.
Connie McVey has been a dance and movement lover all of her life, and for the past 17 years has been practicing contact improvisation to nourish her body, soul, and psyche. She is very excited about the possibility of starting a monthly (or bi-weekly?) contact improv jam in Bangor.
Leslie Forstadt loves the elements of play and the absolute *being in the moment* that contact improvisation offers. She’s practiced contact for over 10 years, and also teaches yoga at Central Street and through inhabityoga.
